Quirks
by Shiroi Iyasu
Summary: 'With nearly eight years between them, it was easier to see and note the little things that could have passed over everyone's and anyone's notice.' One-shot collection of Brynn and Hanso, of their adventures, memories, and friendships.
1. Brynn : Tension

This thing just appeared from nowhere. I swear.

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><p>She was doing it again. Just like the day before and even some very sparse days varying between months to years ago, she was doing it.<p>

Hanso held back an urge to frown slightly, noting the Kougra's tensed and tight fingers as they pulled the feather across the paper with a rough daintiness. Usually, Brynn held a writing utensil inbetween her index and middle fingers, the rest of them in a loose position that often caused ink smudges as they were dragged along the quill's flow and pace. But seeing that she was holding it between her index and thumb - almost in a fist-like gesture - it showed that something was off. Either being terrible or was irritatedly nagging at her.

He did what he always did in moments like these - started up a casual conversation with the Brightvale guard. "Hey, what'cha writing?"

Brynn hardly paused to look up in recognition. "You know what I'm writing, Hanso - we've been at this for the past seven-eight years."

He shrugged. "Doesn't hurt to be reminded. Besides - like I'll remember all this guard stuff."

Softly, if he strained his hearing, the Ixi could hear a tired sigh along with the silence of a conversation harshly ended without much progress. Besides the weary-sounding heave of breath, Hanso could also see her blue-stripped tail flop - with an equal amount of exhaustion - onto the desk's polished surface, though it seemed to go unnoticed by the orange pet, who seemed rather focused with squinting her eyes as she scribbled hastily. Yup. Something was definitely bothering her.

_But what in Neopia do I even _say_?_ Hanso made a few 'hmm's as he thought about it, leaning into his wooden chair with folded arms and a hand on his chin, like he saw some of the Brightvale scholars do. He never really understood why they even did something like that - looked a bit silly in his opinion - but they seemed to look more, well, 'wise' and 'knowledgeable' like that, so he adopted the habit when he nothing but a seven year old thief.

_Habits..._

"Oh, I know!" the Ixi exclaimed with a snap of his fingers, momentarily forgetting the Kougra before him until she coughed, eyebrows raised and gazing intently at the thief, half-frowning, half-unamused, and a wee bit confused, though it was barely visible in her disapproving expression.

"Is there something you'd like to say?" she asked curtly, irritation smeared heavily onto the letters. The blue pet grinned - nervously, though it was mostly filled with a sense of determined accomplishment-to-be-done - and noticed that the guard had paused in her writing - it was the first since the two even came in here for Brynn to interrogate him and all that nonsense the guards do to prisoners of not too much priorities. (He wasn't exactly pleased to hear that he wasn't considered so seriously, but at least he had something than nothing.)

"Just wonderin' about your writing," Hanso began, playing the role of the innocent questioner. "I mean, it's weird to write between your middle and index fingers. Do people even do that?"

Somewhere, disappointment rolled itself out as the Kougra was reminded of the paperwork to fill up, hurriedly picking up the quill and beginning to write again. "Seeing that I can write so 'strangely' like you say so, I think that's very possible."

Hanso looked with an expression of silent disbelief - and not the shocked sort. "Yet I've never seen anyone do that, and I've met a lot of people."

Brynn snorted. "During your stealing, yes, you've definitely met a lot of people who you've stole from. Though that doesn't mean you've stolen from them while they were writing - I very much doubt you're the kind who even waits for moments like that."

"Nope, I'm not," the Ixi proudly replied, grinning when he continued. "And you're not the kind who's so disturbed by stuff."

The guard immediately stopped, slowly setting the blue-tipped quill into the glass bottle before her gaze sharply turned onto the thief, finally deciding to not let the papers on her table draw away her attention. "Nothing's bothering me, Hanso." There. She said it.

Hanso, however, simply shook his head at her denied response. "We've had nearly eight years - you don't think I haven't noticed when you're tensed or not?"

"Honestly, no," the Kougra retorted momentarily, soon returning to the actual topic with sharper, narrowed orbs of blue. "But there's seriously nothing happening. And I mean it when I say that."

"_Really?_" It was easy to tell that he was immensely unconvinced.

An irritated sigh left Brynn as her shoulders slumped, leaning onto the desk while massaging her not-helmed forehead like a migraine just struck her. Her free fingers yearned for the writing utensil simply seconds away, but she felt no need to distract herself - what was the point of running away? It would only reinforce whatever idea had occurred in the Ixi's head - with something as useless as paperwork, even though it was all that was needed before Hanso would be 'kindly' directed to the familiar prison cells.

"..._Yes_," came the stressed reply. "Now... just leave it, okay? I have a lot to do."

Hanso made a not-exactly-agreeing 'mmhm' at it, nodding just a slight bit though hesitance and friendly concern had been sewn into his current expression. The silence returned with its expected swiftness, along with the quiet scratches of an ink-dipped quill being dragged onto paper, fingers holding it a tight grip that resembled a hand closed for punching something or someone. The blue pet watched idly as that hand never loosened and never created annoying ink smudges until it stopped and dropped the pure-colored feather into the ink bottle smoothly with experience and practice; the paperwork was over.

Being escorted into the prison, Hanso was accompanied with no one but Brynn - once she handed the paperwork over to some other guard, for some reason even the orange pet didn't exactly understand or see a good need for. The ex-Thieves Guild member openly agreed with her when she brought it up once in a distant conversation - to his cell. Why? Because no one exactly wanted to deal with a nuisance like him, nor could put up with his cheeky and annoying attitude to the other guards. But someone still had to do the job.

The routine of being taken to his cell was both a familiar comfort and a monotonous bore to the thief - Hanso could easily get out. He always had, in one way or the other, no matter how long it took.

As he heard the metallic bars close behind him with that annoying creak that made it seem like no one really maintained the prison, the Ixi turned back to watch the Kougra walk out in the direction of the exit, the two of them unusually silent for once. No chatter, no playful irritation, no witty remarks or comebacks - there was nothing between the two, and any prisoner who had a good amount of exposure to their routine would find it very, very strange.

"...You know, you can always talk about it with me." The Ixi gripped the bars - he didn't notice how tightly he held them. "I won't tell even a petpetpet!"

Brynn didn't look back, but Hanso knew she smiled a little - he couldn't help but grin a bit in return.

"Yeah. You wouldn't."

* * *

><p>There ya go - my second writing of those two awesome people. The first one being on the NT already.<p>

I'm kinda considering to continue to this as a one-shot collection thing, though I honestly don't know how that would ever work out... I mean, I'm kinda procrastinating on writing multi-chapter stuff. Though once the vacations roll out, there'll definitely be updates and all.

Review. No flames.

~Shiroi


	2. Hanso : Friends

Gawds I want overboard with detaaaaaaaaaaail.

Anyway, wanted to try a different PoV for once, so I took up Second Person for this. And my opinion? I think Third Person's more suited for me than anything else. And maybe First Person also. But anyway, on with the one shot!

* * *

><p>Once, as you walked around the kingdom of Brightvale, recalling the early beginnings of what had already been done, you noticed a little bookstore by the unnoticed corners of the Scholar's City, as some call it. The store looked old and seemingly like those of antique ages, with darkness painting warm, cherry-tinted wood insides along with the fragile lacing of dust, colored a brittle, aging grey in what little light could penetrate the thick glass windows.<p>

You would grin and push open the door - you knew they were unlocked from the beginning - hearing the creaks drill noisily into your ears as you closed it behind you softly, being washed with the still air and the cool curtains of black as you fumbled for a light source- And then you had a lamp, decorated with the antique designs of Moltara's origin - metallic gold over a sunshine-yellow, glass lampshade, shaped to form four outstretched leaves that had frozen glass teardrops of dew on its golden tips. Holding its cold handle, you were momentarily hit with the dazed familiarity of doing the same long ago - in your hands, picked up from a dusty librarian's table.

Fumbling with the bronze knob, you soon feel heat radiate from the lamp as it lit up your surroundings like the aura of spirits, trailing along side with you as your feet take you nostalgically through the store's auburn-wood walls and shelves, smiling fondly when you hear your younger, once distantly quiet voice go with a subtle excitement, _'Once upon a time...'_ to a bubbly and cheerful listener around your age.

As you paused by a familiar shelf of story and faerie tale books - you once remembered that you had counted, with idle boredom, the number of steps it took to reach this section. Eighteen steps, you counted that first time, but as you grew older and slowly started to take note of the longer-growing absence of the old Lenny librarian you used to greet with a small smile and a bundle of books to return (she gave them to you for free, holding a sparkle in her eye that made you wonder if she already knew that you were a thief but never said a word on it), the number of steps grew shorter. Now, it was a mere ten steps of both feet - that you used to come by before, you were suddenly hit with the memory of vibrant orange among dark hues, and a pair of sparkling blue sapphires that were much more real and beautiful than the ones envisioned from your lore-filled books.

Taking a chair standing alone nearby, you sat down and pulled out a book from a different section - _Neopian Folk-Lor_e, your mind murmured, slightly unsure as you tried to confirm the fact by clearing the blurred haze of your memories - while taking a good look over it as dust frayed into the air from an action taken after years of silent stillness. The cover was hard - you've always preferred the hard-cover books. They were always much harder to ruin than the soft ones - and colored with pastel mint green, having a faint floral pattern as well, though you couldn't really be sure with the limited amount of light.

You skim past the first few pages, ignoring the author's note and index and reaching the first of the many stories collected into the book, smiling lightly as you slowly recall these inked words from your childhood.

Hours seemed like mere minutes as you pulled out one book and set another back, walking onto memory lane as you remember fond moments with these books, but there was a similar trait to all of them, you soon noticed - you would sit by a Kougra (who randomly came in one day, you don't really know how) who's personality was a complete opposite compared to your past self, at first reluctantly pulling out stories by memory to tell your only listening companion.

And they all started with, _'Once upon a time...' _

_"Once upon a time, there was a princess trapped in a tower."_ - It was the first story you shared with her. She thought it would be like all other faerie tales and having an overly-sweet happy ending and 'all that', but it wasn't, having a somber one instead and creating a slightly puzzled reaction in turn. You told her that story because she kept bugging you, trying to get something to come out of your mouth until your patience vanished one day and you just told her the first thing that came to your mind - a story.

That, unfortunately, backfired and you were stuck spending your childhood time - when you were not pick-pocketing anyone, that is - telling the girl all the fables you knew. Eventually, you came to expect her at the small bookstore at four o' clock in the afternoon, bringing a chair to yours and eagerly listening to you relay words either right out from the book on your lap, or by memory.

But there was one that she loved best - _"Once upon a time, a cheeky but honest thief met a diligent but quiet guard."_

Then, there was once a time where she told you - and herself - that she would become a guard. And that, you didn't mind. At first anyway. Once she was gone, you soon realised that she would no longer come back, having decided to pursue her words for real - which you never expected because she never truly did such things with that much eagerness before. But you tried not to be so worried about it, retreating back to the quiet days where you would pull out a book and read the story by yourself.

Yet, all you could focus on was the emptiness of the bookstore, of the silence created with no one but yourself, seeing that the Lenny eventually never reappeared to take care of the store after passing away naturally. You would, to distract yourself, try to pull your mind onto the words written in abyss black, only to be crushed by the loss of the Kougra's interested smile as she sat down and tugged your sleeve for another 'good story to tell me' or the irritation you felt as she interrupted you halfway to either repeat what you just said or ask an alarmingly unnecessary question.

You didn't understand it.

You didn't understand why you felt any of this.

But somewhere, you did know why - you thought of her as a friend, like in that story she seemed to love hearing a number of times multiplied by infinity. Only, the personalities were switched, with you being the quiet one and her being the blunt one. But, it was more or less the same if you thought about it.

Thoughts after thoughts transpired in your then nearing-nine-one-fourth mind, but one suddenly stood out like those shimmering chains of precious diamond in jewelry cases or like the silk purses holding at least twenty thousand neopoints carried around by the nobles. And with that thought, you too soon left the bookstore, returning nearly a decade later, returning during moments such as _now_.

Your grin had softened into a weak smile by now. You looked down at the book, soon shrugging lightly and left the store, taking the book with you - you're a thief, and no one's going to miss one little book from shelves carrying dozens more. It wouldn't hurt - as you slipped back out into the streets and returned back to the castle.

From there, it doesn't take long for you and Brynn to head back to Faerieland, after that diplomatic meeting with King Hagan - the guard had expected you to ditch the meeting anyway, so she honestly didn't mind you running off to Fyora knows where, save for the part where she 'wished you would stop doing that so much' - though the Uni Carriage ride was boring with nothing to do. Some part of both you and her were relieved that Faerieland wasn't in the sky, for perhaps it might just extend the few hours that took to reach the ruined city, and you doubted you would be able to deal with that for very long.

During those hours that took to reach the once-glorious faerie city, you pulled out a simple-looking, hard-cover book colored blue and orange. Brynn frowned, wondering most likely if you stole that book, but those thoughts evidently vanished once you read out the first line.

"Once upon a time, there was a blunt but honest thief, and a hard-working but quiet guard..." You grinned as you saw childhood memories slowly piece themselves together in the Kougra's eyes, blinking confusingly, then disbelievingly, until she just plain urged you to go on. She still loved the story, evidently enough.

Which Hanso did. "...And they were the most unlikely people to ever become friends."

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><p>IT'S DONE. GAWD.<p>

Anyway, I know Hanso may seem a little OOC here, but at present age, I think of him to be nineteen and since I picture those childhood moments to have happened at nine years of age, there's a good gap of time to change in personality.

And these one-shots are not connected. (There can be exceptions though. You never know.) So... YEAH, PLAYING WITH DETAILS~

Review if you'd like to. No flames.

~Shiroi


	3. Brynn : Tradition

Argh, summeeeeeeeer. Why must you be so hot and so ungodly short when I think about it?

Oh wait, the latter's only because of the new MMORPG I got myself into, and lots of 'Birthday-fic writing'. Too much writing, more than I usually do anyway. (Or maybe I'm becoming lazy.) Thinking about it, my own birthday's coming up soon.

But anyway, moving on! (I kinda screwed this up, I think. Man, why can't I write properly anymore?)

* * *

><p>It had started with a dirty hand, a larger-than-the-sun smile, and an innocent lollipop colored tigersquash orange with its trademark black stripes.<p>

"Want it? I've got a lot more." The Ixi grinned at her widely, shaking the sweet treat a little in front of the girl's face. Brynn looked between the lollipop and Hanso's somewhat misleading expression, but as she slowly glanced away to the small, crumpled ball of plastic wrappers splattered with cherry red or apple green in her hands, she only smiled weakly.

_What could one more lollipop do to you? _The orange pet quietly plucked the tigersquash-flavored lollipop, replying, "Sure."

She didn't know it would do a lot.

A few months later, it was her birthday. Brynn wasn't exactly expecting anything to happen on this day though - her parents were always too busy to attend to her, leaving a little Kougra who eventually learnt how to handle herself and her needs on her own. And so, it came as no surprise that instead of celebrating it with cake and presents, she was walking down an abandoned, silent path up Meridell's green hills. She had no plans for today, but her feet led along the grassy ground, and she found herself soon sitting on one of the many hills overlooking Meridell.

Brynn sighed, tugging a strand of her sunset-orange hair with idleness. "You know, Hanso, you'd be really bad at hide-and-seek if you couldn't even be quiet while coming up here."

Hanso only shrugged as he climbed out of his so-called hiding spot and took a spot next to her. "Well, at least you'll know I'm here whenever I come around."

The Kougra's mood immediately dipped. "...Yeah."

The Ixi easily caught on to the sudden change in aura, though the orange pet was fluent in keeping away her feelings behind a somewhat-dazed, stoic mask. Didn't mean he couldn't be as piercing enough to see through the porcelain facade. "Something the matter?"

Brynn was half-startled - no one ever notices her feelings, let alone herself. She's like what some people would call a 'wallflower', and she hardly minds the title because it suits the quiet girl with ambitious dreams of being a strong, well-spoken guard; dreaming of being someone a bit too distant from what she is currently - and half-upset, the latter which she had no clue why she was experiencing. The Kougra simply let her feet shuffle against the lush grass, pulling lake-blue eyes away from the open fields and onto the canvas painted a shade lighter than her own.

"Not really." There was hardly a need to tell him what she felt.

The blue pet made long, stretched out 'hmm's at that, sounding just as much unconvinced as she was forcing her tongue to stress that _nothing was wrong, and today was like the many days before this one_. He never seemed to be duped sometimes. "Still sounds like you have a problem."

For a tiny bit, she snapped. "It's not your business."

He was clearly unfazed as he continued, "For a friend, it very much is."

_Since when were we friends?_ She wanted to ask the question, but her stubborn self-reasoning - it had been slowly shrinking ever since she met him, since she started to leave the confines of her little house near a corn farm - had withered away at that one last remark. Her lips were silent as ropes tugged her eyes onto the Ixi, entirely passive with a frown for, like in a game of chess, he had played 'checkmate'.

Hanso sighed, relaxing slightly. "So there's a problem." It wasn't a question.

Brynn pulled her knees to her chest, hugging them tightly like during her much early times when she would hide in a corner, bringing her thin blanket around her and hoped vainly that the thunder and lightning would go away soon only to realise that it wouldn't go until a very dark three o' clock in the morning. She allowed the silence to stretch on, mentally drawing the image of farms and nature in her head. "...It's my birthday."

"And what's so bad about that?" He was genuinely curious. "It's a fun thing! We get to have presents and cake and parties, and then there's a lot of cards you get from your friends and... parents..."

His voice died as he trailed off.

"...Oh." Silence. It was predictable, to say the least. What wasn't expected was the mirthless smile that slid into his suddenly solemn, quiet look, entirely devoid of anything but pure understanding.

"Hah... I must have forgotten." _Sorry for reminding you all about that_, was left out, but the Kougra didn't need to verbally hear them. It was common sense to expect words of that sort anyway. To pity the little girl who would have to spend her birthdays alone with a cake and tea made by herself because her parents were constantly on some trip or the other, trying to find or do something that only they knew. They did send their words of appreciation and love, but it felt like the bottle which she contained them in was empty, made of fragile glass.

"Not exactly your fault," Brynn mumbled. Never was.

"Still is. No one wants to remember horrible stuff." His face was grim, mouth set into a pursed line - the expression was enough to ring bells of alarm because, honestly, it didn't suit the eight-nine year old - before it brightened with a familiar sunshine smile; he got some idea or the other again. She can't help but wonder when he's going to be in big trouble for it. The Ixi rummaged through his pockets, soon coming up with a bunch load of neither neopoints nor simple items like a little poppy or daisy, but cool blue lollipops, each having streaks of summery yellow.

"I don't think anyone said 'Happy Birthday, Byrnn!' or anything at all to you except for yourself - which doesn't count, I'll let ya know - yet, so... here!" Forcefully, his dirt-dusted hand - she didn't mind the dirt because this was Meridell, the land of knights and swords, and the peasants from your faerie tale books - had shoved the bundle of treats into her hands, to which she could only peer and blink at with a mixture of surprise and awe; tigersquash lollipops were one thing, but she never saw something like this before.

"Where'd you get it?" she couldn't help but ask as she eagerly tore off one of the lollipops' wrapper.

Hanso mused upon it momentarily. "Well, some guy from Brightvale came and was selling these strange fruits... and sweets too. So I guess it's made from some Brightvale fruit. Heard it tastes spicy but really yummy."

"Looks like it - but seriously, spicy?"

He snorted, "Yeah, I know. A spicy fruit! Think Mystery Island's the only place with weird food now?"

"Nope," Brynn replied cheerfully, a smile finally cracking into appearance since the beginning of the day. The two both shared a small moment of laughter, where after Hanso continued joking about strange yet delicious fruits, and where Brynn was happily sucking on lollipops - a present.

o~*~*~*~o

"More paperwork?" the thief asked, looking over the Captain of Faerieland's Guards' shoulder. The Kougra hardly flinched at his sudden appearance from nowhere, already having seen the open window from where he probably entered through. But, it didn't stop her from sighing irritatedly.

"So?"

Hanso shrugged, "Nothing. Just asking - it's a pretty nice day after all. Who would wanna be cooped up in here on a good day?"

Brynn rolled her eyes, but continued jolting down words in violet ink - she couldn't help but wonder why violet and not indigo, seeing that Fyora herself preferred the palace to be rebuilt with (enchanted, of course) indigo marble. Hanso simply asked why the Kougra was even asking that, to which she laughed lightly and continued on with her duty - with the new appearance of a faint smile. Leave it up to Hanso to make comments of that sort.

There was a good moment of silence right after that, only cut off by a sudden rummaging of clothes that she distantly recognized as Hanso digging through his pockets for something or the other. Half-heartedly, the orange pet wondered if they had any holes, but then pushed it aside for its mere stupidity and silliness. The Ixi would be a rather horrible thief if he put neopoints and valuables in pockets with holes.

She turned back to see him shove a lake-blue, light-stroked lollipop into her hands.

It took her a moment of staring and plain blinking at the familiar treat before her faint smile turned real and she happily pulling off the wrapper like that one decade ago. "You still remember my tenth birthday, huh?"

"It's where the tradition started - so why not?" Ever since that day, their birthdays were filled with a lolipop of different flavors. She had to repay him a favor, after all, though she embarrassingly had to admit that certain patrols where she chased down the thief while in the Brightvale Guards were just a facade to hand him her present, or even vice-versa. But sometimes, it seemed all worth while.

"You still could have gotten me a Cherryapple lollipop though," the Captain idly remarked as she sucked the sweet treat.

"Those are expensive!"

"You're a thief. You don't buy them - you steal them."

"That's what."

"I can always help you out of prison."

"That's new."

And like that one decade ago, it had ended with the sharing of laughter, jokes, lollipops, and Hanso grinning as he finished it all with, "Happy Birthday, Brynn."

* * *

><p>If you're wondering when Brynn's birthday is in this one-shot, I'd say around summer since... well, it's summer currently. (And I might just be making hints to future one-shots too, now that I think about it. lolz.)<p>

Anyway, the blue lollipop Brynn receives is a lollipop made out of - probably anyway - a Brightvale fruit called 'Flaming Blooble Fruit'. It's name and appearance is reaaaaaaaaally weird, I'm not gonna disagree on that, but the description makes it sound really nice, nevertheless. (Though seriously, a spicy fruit? That's... interesting, to say the least.)

And a Cherryapple isn't a real life fruit, nor a fruit found on Neopets - but it's not made up either. For those who don't know, it's found only at a daily which gives out prizes having a Cherryapple theme, with an actual Cherryapple being one of the prizes obtained.

Anyway, I'm gonna go relax for another month because I'm kinda restricting myself to one update per month now. (Think of it as due to a duo called Life and Karma, or because I'm a totally lazy bitch. Either one - your choice.)

~Shiroi

(PS - Anyone who figures out the daily and place you can find the Cherryapple wins a cookie! :D It will not be laced with poison, I assure you. *innocent look*)


	4. Brynn: Studiousness

Omg, how long did I not update this?

I'm SO sorry for not updating. Life and tons of other things just caught up and... well, yeah. This was just kinda written up very, very randomly. Like, midnight. lol, my examinations ended a while back and I kind of restricted myself for restricted freedom for writing pouring out here? Heaven knows.

Beware~ tenses occasional change because of how randomly I wrote this up. Try to ignore it and whatnot if you do pay attention to tenses.

_Edit: So my computer crashed a long while back, and while everything's fine now, all my previous stuff is gone - including the continuation for this one-shot, along with a bunch of other ideas. And there's life and school and studies and all, along with something called forgetfulness, so it's pretty unlikely that I can take the time to write up what I think would have been the next one-shot now. So, unfortunately, this is gonna be the last chapter (unless I miraculously decide to update it) and the fic itself will be marked 'complete'._

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><p>Brynneth Marie Illise was the perfect, hardworking student a teacher would easily admire.<p>

Sadly, she was a bit _too_ into her studies - reading thick educational volumes and the occasional grim novel written by Neovian authors at night with only a small, almost priceless faerie night-light had left her with much too big frames colored rosy apple on her small nose. She wasn't all that free with her constant studying, thus leaving her with a shy attitude that could never make a proper friend, and a quiet personality that merely shuffled through school hallways in silence as classmates teased and taunted her from the sidelines.

The little Kougra, aged nine, would try not to let it get to her anyway. After all, she aspired to me one of Brightvale's elusive guards - one that would show kindness to the helpless and bring justice to the villains.

The sweet, idealistic dream of just a little child - it would come true. It had to.

And indeed it would. It would come true - becoming a definite reality the moment that distant day occurred...

* * *

><p>Today, a student from Meridell had transferred in.<p>

Brynneth didn't do so much as look over the bony, shaggy-looking Ixi with a bland pair of eyes that searched the classroom idly, and then going back to her newest book. She, however, listened to the sweet, old Acara teacher - Mrs Farah - as she told the class that his name was Hanso, he came from a poor family, his health and knowledge isn't all that great because of that, please be nice and kind to him, all of you say hello.

She doesn't join in the chorus of greetings, regardless of the pity talk.

* * *

><p>It's like the flu, the Kougra mused. A week has passed since the sudden transfer of Hanso Minvein, and the Ixi has grown in popularity among her classmates. The girls love his charming, gentlemanly acts and sunny grins to them, and the boys admired his cheeky recklessness filled with unseen levels of ambitious courage. His brains weren't very good, as Mrs Farah had stated, but nobody hated him for being pathetic at his tests. It was the weirdest, most confusing thing Brynneth had ever seen!<p>

That wasn't the unpleasant aspect of it, though.

Apparently, his poor academic skill did catch the school's attention - he needed some help in his studies, every teacher and his parents agreed, and who better to help than a friendly classmate? A rather smart classmate, and Brynneth was the best out of her peers with full marks on nearly everything and rarely a deviation in grades.

So one early afternoon in the Month of Hiding, both were called into an empty classroom where Mrs Farah gently told them that from today onwards, she and Hanso were going to start working together as Brynneth gave extra tutoring after school hours.

* * *

><p>Hanso was like an annoying, childish kid - that is what Brynneth decided as his personality on the first of many, many Tuesdays of their new schedule.<p>

The Ixi can't seem to be able to sit still, eagerly looking around her modest little house with a bright sparkle in his eyes that for some reason, she can't identify. It took a long while and a promise for cookies - chocolate chip, specifically - before he actually remained seated in a chair for more than two minutes and longer. During this time, she gathered her study materials, promised treats, and began her afternoon tutoring.

It was _disastrous_.

Hanso never paid attention to a single thing she said, gobbling down and asking for more and more cookies until she was sure that her voice was sore from saying that he finished it all up. He wouldn't sit still either after he understood that, and while she actually did have more baked treats hiding in secret to give him, she was sure it would end up the same as now - him not getting a single sentence of knowledge into his head and his blood sweetened with chocolate.

In the end, the day ended with nothing done and her at an actual puzzlement to what she could do.

* * *

><p>Come Thursday, and Brynneth scrapped up the most strangest method of getting the Ixi to listen - a cookie for a right answer. She doesn't actually admire the idea, since it reminded her of Dogglefoxes and Warfs being treated nearly or even exactly the same at least basically, but she was given a job and she had to do it to live up to their expectations and her own pride, so what else could the nine year old do but go along with it and see how it fared?<p>

Almost surprisingly and scarily, it did the job.

Hanso paid closer attention to her as she spoke and explained every paragraph in their textbooks, awarding the blue pet with a cookie from the bag held securely in her hands when he answered one of her sudden and random questions correctly. Once in a while, he did attempt to simply steal the bag out of her grasp when she gave her focus to tutoring than guarding the currently honey-sweetened cookies, but he was clumsy with his tries and usually enough she caught him trying it before his hands could even twitch with urges to snipe it.

Regardless of it all, the Kougra thought as she closed the front door after watching her student and classmate hurry back home, it was better than Tuesday. _Far _better.

* * *

><p>Despite the past few weeks of her new routine, things at school have not changed in the slightest.<p>

A Kau sneered as he commented about her nerdy appearance of apple-sized glasses, boring green dress, knee-high socks with black Alice shoes, an armful of books and her hair combed into a long braid almost dragging itself across the floor. She doesn't mind him at all and merely brushed past him - until several more students circled her immediately, therefore cutting off a path forward and elsewhere, and Brynneth dreadfully realised that this is where her high intelligence finally paid its negative prices.

For a decent moment, she almost thought her knees and arms would give way in somewhat preparation for the treatment to come - that was, until a blue Ixi suddenly cut into the ring, having a look of what might have actually been genuine irritation plastered on his face. The bullies stop in whatever stupid notion they had as they eye their familiar friend, wonder what his problem was, until Hanso swiftly grabbed her wrist and hastily pulled her out of the corridors and into a janitor's closet where they remain as the group passed by in blind following.

It was quiet as both sink to the floor, gathering their breaths - Hanso never had good health, as the teachers said, and Brynneth never realised she had held in a long, long breath when she had been momentarily cornered.

The silence formed was then broken when the blue pet asked if she was okay with his ever usual grin. She mutely nodded as she gathered herself, feeling the most fleeting glimpses of a smile beckoning her lips - when she got back home afterwards, free from the afternoon routine of taunts and teases for a very first, she ponders if she had unconsciously made her first friend.

* * *

><p>Morning arrived, and Brynneth went through her usual waking schedule - get up, freshen herself, eat a breakfast that she had to make on her own again because Mom had to head out early for her job at the bookstore and Dad was busy as usual with melting sand for rainbow paintings at the stained glass window shop, pull out something from her closet to wear as she braided her long orange locks, grab her things and lock the front door before leaving the front garden gates for another day.<p>

As she walked a short path to school, a hand landed on her shoulder and when she looked back in almost alarm, she was greeted with a familiar, grinning face - she only calmed down a bit later, because while she knew from an occasional spotting that he too took this way to school and back, it was still a bit odd and definitely awkward for some reason she couldn't place a finger on.

Hanso striked up a conversation only moments later - Brynneth is a person of only a few words, so sometimes she thought she saw a playful annoyance flickering in his eyes from her lack of open speeches, but was gone as he animatedly continued on. Their talk goes into many topics from food to books to hobbies, and honestly, the nine year old is a bit surprised by how well she could keep up with the transfer student's speedy pacing. The Kougra and Ixi both managed to glean some information of the other, at least a little bit, by the time the school building comes into view.

Brynneth does not hesitate or think, as she would normally do, and the pair enter its copper-hued gates together.

* * *

><p>WELL. Part One is done, lets hope I do Part Two eventually! <em>(or not.)<em>

Review - no flames please.

~Shiroi


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